Leading up to the Clemson-Ohio State College Football Playoff semifinal, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney was surprisingly vocal in his defense of ranking the Buckeyes No. 11 in the Coaches Poll, arguing that OSU’s 6-0 record, while other teams played nine or more games, disqualified Ryan Day’s squad being ranked in the top 10.

He defended his ranking in an interview with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi:

“It means something to me. It’s my poll. I do it. … It has nothing to do with Ohio State — absolutely zero,” Swinney said. “You can change the name to Michigan or Georgia or Florida or Tennessee or Nebraska. Anytime you have a top-10 (ranking), it should be that special. This year it’s like really, really, really special and I wanted it to be that way.

“And so, I wanted to recognize the teams that played 9 games or more. And so, if you didn’t play 9 games, I just didn’t consider you for the top 10. That’s why they were 11. …

“Obviously, they’re a great team. They’re plenty good enough and talented enough to beat us and good enough to win the national championship. But, in my opinion, I don’t think that it’s right that 3 teams have to play 13 games to win it all and 1 team has to play 8. What universe am I living in? And it has nothing to do with them. It was about qualifying. And I didn’t think they were qualified based on the number of games.”

Swinney’s ranking and media defense of his ranking has made him a target for social media trolling as OSU lead 35-14 at the half.

Here’s a small of what’s being said on social media. Michael Jordan memes from “The Last Dance” are predictably popular:

https://twitter.com/SportsLawLust/status/1345194077831254017

https://twitter.com/kofodfsu/status/1345194351882764295

https://twitter.com/Charles11501/status/1345193912382713857

https://twitter.com/ZaeMartin5/status/1345199398876286976

https://twitter.com/RealLittleDanny/status/1345200995446501377

https://twitter.com/paullymac7/status/1345200945987268609

https://twitter.com/effie_garcia/status/1345200859680935938